Property Malaysia

We have a friend who used to stay in Wangsa Baiduri, and we used to go to his place for excellent dinner parties. This was back in the late 90’s and we used to really look forward to going to his place, it was a nice secluded corner of Subang Jaya, hidden behind SJMC, and the two hotels, with its own guardhouse and walking distance to that nice lake (Taman Subang Ria) with the beautiful view.

Well, anyway, things have changed quite a bit now. My friend has gotten married and moved out, but he still tells me that his parents are forever complaining about the construction lorries going in and out of their main road. Well, actually we think its isn’t all that bad, Road Builder have only just build their Boulevard project since then, but its actually quite high density. Now the developer (now under IJM) is launching the second condo a little further down the road, which of course they say is the last condo project in the area.

(the neighbouring Boulevard)

But actually this part of Subang Jaya will be very much affected in the future even if there aren’t any more land for condo around the lake here. Well, for starters, they’ve blocked the view to the lake (that’s one of the biggest complaints his dad has). And secondly, the colleges out there on the main road has irrevocably changed the population profile around this whole area - from the renters in the residential areas, to the commercial areas, and more importantly compounding the traffic problem. Which leads us to the third one - the traffic thing. Already SJMC is renovating their carpark to cater for more, and there’s a new elevated highway right in front of the junction, not to mention that the main road is now going to be 6 lanes altogether.

But anyway. back to Laman Baiduri.

It’s on a dead end, just next to a row of new bungalow lots that are almost completed, and facing some existing homes.

There are two mid-rise towers here, similar with about 21 floors.

There are 2 types of units here, one is the more desirable lowrise villas are facing the lake, but with only 4 storeys of very limited units, we’re told that they’ve all been sold out earlier. The villas are 1,744sq.ft. with 4 rooms, and a very attractive layout. The yard is exceptionally big, and so is the balcony, attached to the masterbedroom. There is also a terrace at the living, they’re making full use of the lake view for these villa units. But like we said, none left for sale.

(view of the lake from the show house)

The back of the villas are the parking floors, since the proximity to the lake probably does not allow for basement parking. Above the villas and the parking floors is the common facilities floor, and beyond that are 17 floors of units.

The are two types of units for the tower, and at the moment only one of the towers are open for sale. Each floor on the tower consists of 6 units per floor. The units are called ’suites’ and per floor there are 2 suites B and 4 suite units. Suite A is the smaller of the two, 1,184sq.ft. with 3 rooms and 2 baths. Layout is pretty unorthodox, it is an intermediate unit design with only one side of the unit open for ventilation. There is a fairly large balcony, and the masterbedroom is spacious. The kitchen is small though, so most people may consider knocking combining it with the yard for more space.

For those looking for a bigger unit, Suite B offers 1,624sq.ft. of space, and it is the corner unit so you have two sides of the unit opening out. Here the design moves more comfortably, larger living are and a very large master bedroom. There are is a fourth room / maids herem and its pretty big and is also suitable to made into a study or utility. One interesting touch is the lanai concept, an enclosed windowed balcony, with is as large as one of the smaller rooms. This concpet has been quite popular a few years back by a certain well-known architect, here it still looks very refreshing and blends well with the unit.

There are 2 units of penthouses per block, 4,209sq.ft.

In terms of the facade of the condo, there is nothing spectacular here, but the colour scheme of white and dark grey is not unattractive. We thought aqua color to match the lake, but maybe that would be too literal an interpretation. But nonetheless, white may not look too great if not taken care of a few years down the line. You may be interested to note the maintenance fee is 25sen psf not including the sinking fund.

Facilities are just okay, considering the space constraint.

Now the price. List price is from RM392k to RM612k which is from about RM331psf to an average of RM350psf Penthouses cost up to a whopping RM1.7million. The units cost an extra RM5k for every floor up. Obviously the lakeview units are more desirable than the other side, so the prices reflect this preference. We’d definitely go for the lakeview units, since that is the whole attraction of the condo (for us, that is) is the view of the lake. So for a unit at a decent height would be around RM500k which would make it pretty steep however you look at it. Those condos around Subang Parade go for much less, but of course instead of the awesome view of the lake, you have an awesome view of the Federal Highway there. But of course the location here is much more secluded, and the surrounding area is more upmarket.

(Ongoing construction at the site)

So bottomline - would we buy it? Yes if we had the money, but not many lakeview units that are on the cheaper range available. But then again, we’re not big fans of Subang as a home. But of course if you are a resident and looking for a place for your kids or investment then its definitely worth a look. But hurry up though.

IJM, through their Road Builder are the developers here. They’re one of the fastest growing developers around town these days, through their merger, and also from the Talam landbank.